Prepared by Messenger Staff
Penitentiary Service Rejects GYLA Claim of Obstructed Lawyer
The Special Penitentiary Service has rejected a Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (GYLA) claim that its lawyer was obstructed while performing professional duties at a penitentiary facility.
GYLA said its lawyer was prevented from taking notes made during a meeting with prisoner Giorgi Davitadze, who has accused prison guards of sexually assaulting him, out of the facility. The organization called for a response from the Public Defender, Georgian Bar Association and Prosecutor's Office.
The Penitentiary Service said the claim was unfounded, arguing that while prisoners have the right to meet their lawyers without interference, the law does not give lawyers the right to remove various types of records from penitentiary facilities after meetings.
The agency said prisoners and their lawyers can send correspondence through the facility under established procedures. Under the Penitentiary Code, correspondence is subject to inspection and may be reviewed or restricted in exceptional cases where there is a reasonable suspicion that it contains information threatening public order, public safety or the rights of others.
The service said all practicing lawyers are informed of the relevant procedures and that both prisoners and their lawyers can send correspondence through penitentiary facilities in accordance with the rules.
Up to 35,000 Families Lose Subsistence Allowance After Review
Up to 35,000 families have stopped receiving subsistence allowances after authorities reviewed about 80,000 households, Health Minister Mikheil Sarjveladze said on October 7.
Sarjveladze said most of the families removed from the program no longer qualified because their financial circumstances had improved. The government is continuing to review beneficiaries and update the database as families' circumstances change.
The review follows a COVID-19-era moratorium on eligibility checks and concerns over the growing number of people receiving assistance. In February, more than 185,000 families, or about 710,000 people, were receiving subsistence allowances under Georgia's Targeted Social Assistance scheme, which provides monthly payments to households based on their welfare scores.
Nearly 400,000 families, or about 1.3 million people, were registered in the Unified Database of Socially Vulnerable Families at the time.
The review prioritizes households considered more likely to have improved financially, including families that had monthly income of at least GEL 2,000 during the previous three months.
Sarjveladze said the government expects the review to save tens of millions of GEL, although it has not provided an exact figure or timeline.
